Sixth Meeting

Hurrray, we've finished the first book! The next book is A Clash of Kings, and we will read the first 144 pages, stopping before Davos' chapter. Remember everything you heard about Stannis Baratheon in the first book - you'll finally meet him in the prologue of A Clash of Kings. Thank you Chris for the pizza, and thanks Candie for the cake! Happy name day Jacqueline! Here's some of what we talked about at the meeting. As always, please comment if I forgot something from the meeting or if you think of something you want to add or ask!

• We talked about the Wall and it's historical counterpart, Hadrian's Wall. We also noticed that Westeros is roughly the same shape as Great Britain. 
• Iron and fire are known to repel the Others, according to the old stories. It is probably not a coincidence that the Wall was built with iron gates.
• Jon's parentage came up, and Candie brought up the theory that Jon could possibly be the child of Lyanna and Rhaegar. Jon could also be Ned's illegitimate child with someone who he met before marrying Catelyn, who went south with him during the rebellion to have the baby. Don't forget that Ashara Dayne's name has been mentioned by Catelyn in the beginning of the book, and Wylla is the name that Ned gives to King Robert.
• We talked about how much we all hate Joffrey, and tried to determine when his true colors finally began to show to Sansa. He seems to have become even more cruel since being crowned.
• The Lannisters have few friends, and we talked about how none of the major houses are their allies at this point. The Starks and Tullys are openly at war with them, the Baratheons are gathering armies against them, the Tyrells have allied with Renly Baratheon, and the Arryns (if they were to bestir themselves) would fight with the Starks and Tullys. The Martells far in the south are not players in this war (yet?) but it is known that they still hate Tywin Lannister for killing Princess Elia and her children during the rebellion (Memory refresher: Elia of House Martell was married to Prince Rhaegar and had a young daughter and infant son. Her children were butchered in front of her before she was murdered by Ser Gregor Clegane, a knight sworn to the Lannisters and acting under Tywin's orders). So the Lannisters, arguably the most powerful House in Westeros, essentially stand alone in this war.
• Dany, after losing her infant, wakes up from her fever dreams and tries to remember something important. She knows she wants to hold something, but can't remember her baby. She asks for her dragon eggs instead, and crawls out of bed trying to get to them.
• There was some difference of opinion about whether or not Dany's baby actually died, and the manner of his death. Was he stillborn, or murdered, or hidden away from Dany? Was he actually born as Mirri Maz Duur describes him, twisted, with scales and a tail and wings, years dead, filled with graveworms?
• We talked about Jon and Arya's connection with each other, how they both looks like Starks (whereas Robb, Sansa, Bran and Rickon all have Tully coloring), and they connect so well that they can complete each other sentences. Are they just very close friends, or is this a deeper connection?
• We all pretty much agreed that we aren't crazy about Catelyn's narration. 
• Bran and Rickon both saw their father in the Winterfell crypts the night after he died. Hodor was too frightened to go into the crypts, and Summer waited at the stairs and wouldn't go further. When Bran got to Ned's waiting tomb, he found that Rickon and Shaggydog had spent the night there waiting for their father. Rickon said that Ned was finally coming home.
• We talked about Littlefinger's loyalties, and we all agreed that Littlefinger is only loyal to himself.

Our next meeting is Wednesday August 14th at 6pm in the Winn Room. I'll be doing the food. Happy reading!

House Arryn
"As High as Honor"